Resisting Censorship: Kolkata screening of 'Musalmaner Katha'

The struggle to protect the right to show and speak about truths uncomfortable for the State is an ongoing one,

and must be combated, say various individuals and organisations

On October 5, 2013, several cultural and civil rights organisations arranged a screening of Soumitra Dastidar's documentary, Musalmaner Katha at the Muslim Institute, Kolkata.

The film, a documentary on the social-economic condition of Muslims in West Bengal, had a premiere screening slated at the state-owned Nandan III auditorium. But this was canceled arbitrarily, purportedly in another effort at official high-handedness at censoring screening of uncomfortable truths.

The alternative screening began at 6.30pm. The filmmaker introduced the film and took questions at the end of the show.

Below is the statement, protesting state censorship and reiterating the resolve to resist, released on the occasion of the screening. It has been signed by several organisations as well as individual film-makers, academics, lawyers and others:

STATEMENT

The last-minute cancellation of Soumitra Dastidar's documentary, Musalmaner Katha, jointly organised by Cine Central and Films Division and scheduled to be screened at the state-owned Nandan-III auditorium on 30 September, is a spineless and non-transparent act by the organisers.

The pretext used for the censoring was apparently the lack of Censor Board clearance, but even that sloppy excuse does not hold water for the indoor screening of a ‘documentary’ in Nandan-III, as stated by Films Division officials themselves. To further the attempt at silencing the film's say, Enforcement Branch officials of Kolkata Police paid a surprise visit to the filmmaker's home, on the very same night, and demanded to see a copy of the film. They rummaged through his books and earlier works, and asked leading questions.

This is clearly a premeditated and concerted crackdown to suppress Musalmaner Katha, which deals with the socio-economic plight of the Muslim community in Bengal over the ages, and has put successive governments in the dock for their negligence of the minorities. This act of suppression, however, is hardly an isolated incident. Rather, it follows a pattern of overt and covert State censorships. In 2002, Anand Patwardhan's documentary, War and Peace, slated as the inaugural film of a documentary festival organised by Films Division and Nandan, had been barred from screening using a similar pretext. Was it just a coincidence that jingoistic chauvinism was heightening during that period, with a tense India-Pakistan relationship, when the State decided to crackdown?

Neither was it a coincidence when Joshy Joseph's documentary One day from a Hangman's Life, a film critical of capital punishment, and featuring the executioner Nata Mullick who had carried out the hanging of rape and murder convict Dhananjay Chatterjee, was barred from screening at Nandan at the directive of the then chief minister. Even though that film had a censor-board clearance, the pretext used then was that tickets were being sparingly sold! Examples of such State censorships, and indirect ways of 'censorship by selection and omission', abound in West Bengal and elsewhere in India. To cap it all, police often stand as mere spectators while frenzied, riotous mobs enforce their own variety of 'censorship’ through vandalism and brute force, as witnessed recently in Pune and Hyderabad.

That the State does not want uncomfortable or inconvenient truths to be screened is obvious. But the right to freedom of expression, the right to hear and to be heard, is too precious to give up to State's caprices. As incidents of assaults on freedom of expression are on an alarming rise, it is imperative to resist cultural fascism and State-imposed censorships of all forms. We shall continue to resist acts of censoring, intimidation and abuses of power by the State, with participation of not just filmmakers and cultural activists, but all people who hold precious the right to freedom of expression as the bedrock of democracy – not just on paper, but also in practice.

Our decision to screen Soumitra Dastidar’s Musalmaner Katha at an alternative venue is a part of this struggle. Please join us.

The new term for self censorship is voluntary censorship, as proposed by companies like Netflix and Hotstar. ET reports that streaming video service Amazon Prime is opposing a move by its peers to adopt a voluntary censorship code in anticipation of the Indian government coming up with its own rules. Amazon is resisting because it fears that it may alienate paying subscribers.

Clearly, the run to the 2019 elections is on. A journalist received a call from someone saying they were from Aajtak channel and were conducting a survey, asking whom she was going to vote for in 2019. On being told that her vote was secret, the caller assumed she wasn't going to vote for 'Modiji'. The caller, a woman, also didn't identify herself. A month or two earlier the same journalist received a call, this time from a man, asking if she was going to vote for the BSP.